


Happiness

by ChettaDrabbles (KOranges)



Series: Whatever the Opposite of Cool Is [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Humor, M/M, ROTC, Tattooed Steve Rogers, at least an attempt at it, pure ridiculous fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 11:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10921314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KOranges/pseuds/ChettaDrabbles
Summary: Natasha and Bucky wanted one thing out of their afternoon: to sit and shamelessly objectify the ROTC team during their daily workout. They weren't hurting anyone. The universe needed to just let them enjoy this hour and give them the happiness they deserved.





	Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> Each of these drabbles are inspired by a prompt I received during an eight month long writing challenge. I'll only be sharing my favorites but every Tuesday & Thursday and I'll post a new one. This is one of several in a connected College AU universe I created- each will be a separate work in the series.
> 
> Prompt: "Life is not always perfect, but it’s always what you make it. So make it count. Make it memorable. And never let anyone steal your happiness."

“Don’t look at me like that.” Natasha grumbled from behind her sunglasses. Bucky laughed. 

“They’re almost as big as your face.” He said, barely containing his giggles. 

“All the better to stare at hot ass with.” Natasha said with a wide smile. They were spread out on a blanket in the Quad. The sun was shining, they didn’t have class for another four hours, and the ROTC guys were about to start their afternoon training session. 

“I love college.” Bucky sighed. He didn’t even bother with sunglasses. He didn’t need to hide it. 

“I can’t believe we’re going to sit on our asses and watch other people work out.” 

“We’ve done creepier things.” Bucky shrugged. He popped a fry from his bag into his mouth. 

“You have, maybe.” Natasha snorted. Bucky scoffed. 

“Sophomore year. In the cafeteria. The potato salad incident.” He reminded her. 

“Shut up.” She snapped. There were hints of pink behind the massive sunglasses she had on. 

The group of men in their workout gear took off to start their laps. Bucky and Natasha had a perfect vantage point to watch them as they ran by. They were all wearing their uniform grey t-shirts and black shorts. A few of them were already sweating. The man in front- all muscle-bound with blonde hair and blue eyes- made eye contact with Bucky as he passed. 

“This is happiness.” Bucky declared. “Right here.” 

“I am feeling pretty damn happy.” Natasha nodded in agreement. The ROTC guys were passed them now and watching them run away was arguably Bucky’s favorite part. 

“You guys have problems.” They turned behind them and saw Clint watching them. 

“Hey, babe.” Natasha grinned up at her boyfriend. 

“Should I be offended? I feel like I should be offended.” He settled in next to them. 

“It’s just happiness, babe.” Natasha grinned at him. “Just let us be happy for the next hour.” 

“To hour and a half.” Bucky chimed in. Natasha nodded. 

“Sometimes they run late.” She explained. Clint just nodded as if his girlfriend wasn’t insane. 

“Their Captain is a little bit single-minded.” Bucky continued. 

“Which one is he?” Clint asked. He leaned over and grabbed Natasha’s drink and some of Bucky’s fries. Having officially admitted defeat, he stared right along with them. Though he had markedly less enthusiasm for it. 

“The blonde with the bulging muscles.” Natasha said, stealing her drink back. 

“You’re going to have to be more specific.” Clint snorted. Bucky grinned. 

“I know. Isn’t it great?” Bucky grinned with Natasha. 

“The one that looks like a J Crew model.” Natasha supplied. Clint studied him as he ran. 

“That one’s the captain? I can see that. He looks like the type.” Clint nodded. 

“What do you mean?” Bucky frowned and looked between the Captain and Clint. 

“Straight laced. Probably graduated from high school as valedictorian.” Clint paused and then continued with a smirk. “Probably has a long term girlfriend back home. They had sex for the first time on prom night. Missionary, of course. Always. And he’s totally going to propose on graduation day.” 

“Babe, stop you’re ruining it.” Natasha whined and pushed him from their blanket. 

“I can’t unsee it.” Bucky frowned. “He’s probably right.” 

Clint nodded and stole some more fries. “He’s totally Vanilla. I’m right.” 

“Now you’ve ruined happy time.” Natasha sighed. Bucky huffed. 

“There are twenty other guys over there to stare at.” Clint protested. 

“But he was our favorite.” Natasha complained. 

“You had a favorite?” Clint challenged with a raised eyebrow. He turned to Bucky. “I shouldn’t be okay with that, right? This is where I should be worried that my girlfriend sits here and pervs on guys with you? And has a favorite?” 

“You were the one fantasizing about his sex life.” Natasha grumbled. 

“She’s got a point.” Bucky nodded. Natasha scooted closer to him. 

“Hey.” Clint shouted, offended. Bucky shrugged. 

“You ruined happy pervy time with your stupid prude fantasies.” Bucky pointed out. 

“It’s not my fault he’s got a copy of the Constitution where his dick should be.” Clint huffed. Both Bucky and Natasha made horrified faced and covered their eyes. Bucky laid down and buried his face into the blanket, pretending to sob. Natasha patted his back consolingly and gave Clint an overly dramatic scowl. 

“Natasha, make your boyfriend stop.” He whined. Natasha just laughed. She poked Clint. 

“You don’t even know him.” Natasha scolded him. “Stop stealing our happy thoughts.” 

“Don’t mind me. Just because I’m right.” Clint laughed as they both whined again. 

Clint just laid down too. Bucky propped himself up on his elbows to watch the drills the ROTC team was drilling in their corner of the grass. He didn’t know what it was called, but it involved them throwing themselves on the ground, doing a series of push-ups and crunches, and then jumping up and down repeatedly. It honestly looked a little stupid. Fun to watch. But stupid. 

The hour passed almost too quickly. Natasha and Bucky waited until after all of the ROTC guys started to clear out of the Quad before moving. Otherwise it would be too obvious that they were only there to watch. They couldn’t wait too long because they still also needed to get back to their dorm and ready for class. But they always waited at least five minutes, if not more. 

Their dorm was maybe a fifteen-minute walk from the Quad. It was actually one of the closer ones. The campus was just massive. It even had its own bus system. They were only about five minutes into their walk when Natasha screeched to a halt. She hit Bucky a few times to get his attention away from the conversation he was having with Clint about taco Tuesday in the cafeteria. 

“Holy fuck.” She pointed. 

“What?” Bucky didn’t see it. She had to point again. 

“Holy fuck.” It was Clint that time. Bucky wasn’t even capable of speech. 

“Is that?” His mouth opened and closed a few times but the rest of the words didn’t come out. 

“It totally is.” Natasha looked delighted. 

“That’s Mr. Missionary?” Clint was flabbergasted. 

“We’re not calling him that.” Bucky snapped. Then he laughed and tried to make an effort to stop openly staring at the ROTC Captain. “I really don’t think we can anymore.” 

Natasha whistled. “You were so wrong, Babe.” 

“I never believed in God before. But I think I do now.” Bucky nodded. 

He was playing Frisbee in front of one of the other dorms with a few of the other ROTC guys. They were still wearing their ROTC clothes but it looked like the game had become one of Shirts vs. Skins. And, by the grace of some higher power, the Captain was on the Skins team. That alone was enough to cause minor heart failure. But the fact that every inch of skin that was previously covered by his shirt was covered in what looked like intricate tattoos damn near killed Bucky. 

“I didn’t think ROTC guys could have that many tattoos.” Natasha’s head cocked to the side. 

“Maybe he had them before?” Bucky suggested. 

“Still think he’s Mr. Missionary?” Natasha teased Clint. Clint just turned red. 

“I think we need to keep moving before someone notices us.” He pushed them forward. 

They kept moving, though much more reluctantly. Bucky barely had the motor function to put one foot in front of the other. He mentally debated whether or not he had time for a cold shower before class. Or time to take care of what was clearly going to become an urgent problem. 

“Hey.” Someone called out. They stopped. 

“Hi.” Clint waved and smirked as the Captain ran over to them. 

“You guys were on the Quad.” He said, smiling happily. 

“Yeah.” Natasha nodded. Bucky was still working on coherent thoughts. 

“I’ve seen you there before, haven’t I?” He asked. 

“You have.” Natasha seemed cool but Bucky could tell that behind her massive sunglasses, she was freaking out. He was busy looking at the dozens of different tattoos. “We go there quite a bit.” 

“Even though it’s so far from your dorm?” He asked, giving them a look. Bucky’s eyes narrowed. 

“How do you know what dorm we’re in?” Bucky asked him. 

If seeing him shirtless was deadly, seeing him blush was apocalyptic. Universes were dying. Galaxies were collapsing into nothingness. Bucky’s brain ceased functioning. His mouth was moving in an explanation that made both Natasha and Clint laugh but Bucky completely missed it. When it was done everyone was staring at him expectantly and he was just standing there trying not to drool. 

“What?” He looked between Natasha and the Captain. They were both waiting for him. 

“I asked if you wanted to have dinner with me. Tonight.” He repeated. Bucky’s eyes went wide. 

“Oh. I- I mean- I” Bucky’s mouth wouldn’t work. He blushed. “Sure.” 

The Captain laughed. Bucky’s felt a little weak. “Great. I’m Steve, by the way.” 

“Bucky.” Natasha supplied when he failed to respond again. 

“Nice to finally meet you, Bucky.” Steve smiled at him. 

“You too.” He managed. Natasha was pulling him away and making noises about getting to class. 

“Oh. You don’t mind if we take my motorcycle, do you?” Steve called after them. 

Natasha was never going to let him live down the noise he made at that question. Clint nearly fell off the sidewalk he was laughing so hard. Bucky put his face in his hands and vowed to be cooler than this during dinner. Steve was just smiling at him in the most wicked way and Bucky could tell he had done that absolutely on purpose. 

“You’re so screwed.” Natasha whispered on a laugh. Bucky groaned. 

“Damn ROTC goody two shoes.” He grumbled, stomping towards his dorm and leaving Clint and Natasha laughing behind him. Apparently, he had a date to prepare for.


End file.
